Mutiny of Scipio's troops
in Spain (206 BC)

The brief mutiny of Roman
forces at the garrison on the Sucro River in 206 was one of the few negative
incidents from Scipio’s Spanish campaigns. Scipio fell ill, and command devolved
to Marcius.

The mutiny had broken out following Scipio’s victory
at Ilipa, when rumours spread that he had fallen ill, or, indeed, had died.
The soldiers complained of having been deprived of plunder, and were also suffering
from arrears of pay. Polybius treats the episode as a clinical example of how
to deal with a mutiny, concluding with the statement (11.30.5) that “Scipio,
by successfully eliminating a potentially great danger, restored his forces
to their original discipline.” The emphasis of Polybius’ account is upon the
fear which Scipio instilled in the mutineers, who are described as “smitten”
by the commander’s authority. Livy’s account, though the same in substance,
is quite different in spirit. Scipio’s speech (28.27-29) to the mutineers appeals,
with warm personal feelings, to the soldiers’ loyalty to Rome, their sympathy
for their general newly recovered from illness, and their gratitude for the
forgiveness which he promises.

Both Dio and Appian reflect the negative appraisal of
Scipio’s handling of the mutiny. From Dio we have a brief fragment (57.14) from
Scipio’s speech to the mutineers, in which he harshly declares, “You all deserve
to die. . .!” Though Polybius and Livy insist that only five ringleaders of
the mutiny were actually executed, Dio (Zon. 9.10.8) describes an indignant
reaction and disturbance among some of the rank and file and says that these,
too, were promptly punished — according to Appian (Hisp. 36), actually executed.
Furthermore, Dio (Zon. 9.10.5) suggests that Scipio used deceit in quelling
the mutiny by sending a letter to the mutinous legion, “praising those who had
accepted the leadership over them,” the very men who were subsequently scourged
and beheaded. Dio’s criticisms of Scipio are of a similar nature as those proclaimed
by Fabius during the investigation of Pleminius. Fabius alleged (Liv. 29.29.5)
that in Spain Scipio had acted in the manner of a tyrant (regio more); that
he was “by nature accustomed to corrupt his soldiers’ discipline and that almost
more soldiers had been lost in the mutiny than by war.” Fabius’ criticism of
Scipio’s handling of the mutiny is made almost in the same breath as his demand
for the recall of Scipio from Sicily, and even though Dio’s account of the Pleminius
affair makes mention (fr. 57.62) of this proposed recall, a similar recall appears
to have been retrojected into his description of Scipio’s departure from Spain.